Family in French: The Full Vocabulary, In-Laws Included
Family members in French, organized by generation - including the tricky in-laws (beau-père) and step/half-siblings (demi-frère) that trip up learners.
Core family words in French: les parents, la mère, le père, le frère, la sœur, les grands-parents. The beau-/belle- prefix covers in-laws and some step-relations: beau-père can mean father-in-law or stepfather depending on context, while demi-frère specifically means half-brother.
Quick answer
Core family words in French: les parents, la mère, le père, le frère, la sœur, les grands-parents. The beau-/belle- prefix covers in-laws and some step-relations: beau-père can mean father-in-law or stepfather depending on context, while demi-frère specifically means half-brother.
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The core family
| French | Meaning |
|---|---|
| les parents | parents |
| la mère | mother |
| le père | father |
| le frère | brother |
| la sœur | sister |
| les grands-parents | grandparents |
| les enfants | children |
Extended family
un oncle (uncle), une tante (aunt), un cousin / une cousine (cousin), un neveu / une nièce (nephew/niece).
In-laws: the beau-/belle- pattern
Beau-père can mean father-in-law OR stepfather - context decides which. Belle-mère, beau-frère, belle-sœur follow the same pattern: beau-/belle- means “by marriage,” and the same prefix is reused for certain step-relations.
Half and step siblings
The genuinely important distinction: demi-frère/demi-sœur means half-sibling (a shared parent), while beau-frère/belle-sœur means step-sibling or brother/sister-in-law (a connection by marriage) - the same beau-/belle- words used for in-laws.
Describing your family (worked example)
J’ai une grande famille : mes parents, mon frère, ma sœur, et mes grands-parents qui habitent près de chez moi. (I have a big family: my parents, my brother, my sister, and my grandparents who live near me.) For possessive forms like mes and mon, see French possessive adjectives.
Family vocabulary, fully mapped
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Questions about this note
What does beau-père mean?
Father-in-law, or stepfather - context decides which.
What's the difference between demi-frère and beau-frère?
demi-frère is a half-brother (shared parent); beau-frère is a brother-in-law or stepbrother (by marriage).
How do you say grandparents in French?
les grands-parents.
How do you say cousin in French?
un cousin / une cousine.
How do you say "my family" in French?
ma famille.